Codex: Raid on Titan - Our Adepticon Malal Theme

 We are back from Adepticon with a medal for best display for our Raid on Titan board. Along with the board (which will get more coverage soon) we handed out a "Codex" to our opponents and a few lucky other individuals at the tournament.

The basic premise of our theme is Malal is trapped under the Grey Knight's Fortress Monastery on Titan and the Sons of Malice are heading there to set him free.

You can download and read our codex here

CODEX ASTARTES: RAID ON TITAN

Now I want to make it clear, most of what is in this is us connecting the dots and not making up fluff. We spent a lot of time researching Malal and the Sons of Malice to pull this all off, but before you scoff

• Malal really is the God of Anarchy
• The Grey Knight's Fortress really is under Mount Anarch
• The Sanctum Santorum really is a bunch of Tesseracht Vaults holding daemons
• It really is guarded by 44 Purifiers
• Malal's sacred number really is 11, and he really hates the 4 chaos gods
• Malal's colors really are black and white (which combined make what?)
• The Sanctum Santorum really is having issues containing daemons after the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum
• The 11th "Doomed One" really has only recently been chosen

All we did is connect a lot of dots and put together a cool theme.

The truth is out there...

Allies of Inconvenience: BONUS- Pre-Adepticon Roadshow Day 1

Join Evan and Chris for their on the road ramblings as they head off to Adepticon 2022! We cover our theme for the Warhammer 40k team tournament, talk about Malal, go over what we hope to see at the GW preview, and generally goof around to pass the time. As with all roadshows, this is unedited and will have background noise, but maybe you'll feel you are along for the ride on your commute!

Listen/Subscribe on any of the following platforms

iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Stitcher

Google Podcasts, Player FM, Libsyn

Non-Primarch Characters that need to make an appearance/come back in 9th

With 9th edition 40k, there will be a whole new round of codicies, which means an opportunity for more and new characters to join the fray. Below I've compiled a short list of some characters from the Lore and previous Codicies that currently have no representation in the game, but definitely deserve some IMO. 

• Lord Commander Primus Eidolon- The leader of the remnants of the 3rd Legion. Assuming there will be a Codex Emperor's Children as some point, you'd have to have Eidolon as a counterpoint to Typhus and Ahriman in the DG and TS books. I also hope we will see a Codex World Eaters, but Kharn would be the biggest dog there, and he already exists. The Soul Severed though is also still out there, and having him at the head of an army of Noise Marines would just be great to see on the table.
• Be'Lakor- The First Daemon Prince. Technically he currently, this guy needs to be redone and in a big way. IMO next Codex Chaos Daemons, he needs to be a LOW and Supreme Commander and just be baller. He looks cool, has an appearance in a fairly recent Black Library Audio featuring Ahriman that is worth checking out, and in general just belongs in the game. Added bonus- Triple Release him for 40k, Age of Sigmar and The Old World (once that releases). It just makes sense to have the OG be bigger in the game (and may or may not help maintain the Malal mythos)
• Captain Alessio Cortez- Missing since Third Edition. This Crimson Fist Captain was the epitome of someone who looked like they've been through hell and came out stronger on the other side. Crimson Fists used to have a lot bigger presence in the Lore and Hobby than they do today. Sure they still have Pedro Kantor, but people used to collect them. They were on the cover of the codex even (yes, there was a time it wasn't Ultramarines). Bringing back this grizzled veteran and having him cross the Rubicon Primaris, and then giving him a model in his classic bad ass pose would really help sell this army again.

• Dark Apostle Erebus- Voted most hated man in the Galaxy for Ten Thousands years consecutively. The First and Foremost among the Dark Apostle, this Word Bearer has had so much impact on the lore, it would be a shame to bring back Daemon Primarchs and not bring back the man who led them all astray. And while I mentioned in a previous post Kor Phaeron showing up and being a candidate for the supreme commander keyword, I think Erebus would be more celebrated and reviled by the fanbase, and has a greater potential for some cool rules.
• Asdrubael Vect- How and why the Archon of the Kabal of the Black Heart is not in the game currently, I don't know. I get we went a decade or so at one point without an update to this army, and I can't figure out for the life of me why he didn't get a new model with any of their relaunches. Time to bring back the man with the most hated stratagem in the game.
• Grand Master Vorth Mordrak- While Voldus is neat and all, he is a pretty lame replacement for someone who could literally summon Ghosts of his fallen GK brothers and take them into battle against Daemons. Seriously, if that isn't grim dark, I don't know what is. Be neat to see him and his incorporeal pals be put into the game like Celestine and her two Geminae. 

• Chapter Master Tu'Shan- Why are there only Two Salamander Characters in the game? There needs to be more, so I start at the top. Tu'Shan is respected by all he meets and leads one of the most noble Space Marine Chapters there is. What else really needs to be said.
• Angkhor Prok- The infamous kroot shaper. It would be great to see Kroot on the table more IMO. They have cool fluff and their primitive avian look is neat alongside the futuristic Tau, really highlighting how the Empire is more of a coalition of races. Giving the Kroot a Character again could go a long way to making them playable and interesting. Prok specifically is the one who brokered a deal with the Tau Empire though, so he may be dead at this point, but the idea is to at least get a kroot character back into the game.
• Captain Uriel Ventris- If Captain Titus of the Space Marine video game can't actually exist, this is the closest we will get to him. Roboute has met him and was impressed by him. Have this modern day Aeonid Thiel offer up some interesting ways for Ultramarines to play on the table. Maybe even make him a dual character profile with Pasanius, his #2, who would be interesting with his Necrontyr right arm.

• Doom of Malan'tai/Parasite of Mortex- Probably rename them with more generic names (like all the current bugs: Swarm Lord, Old One Eye, Red Terror, Death Leaper), but successors in Spirit. The psychic phase is a big part of the game, so having a bug that is just an absolute beast in that phase make sense. And as for the Parasite, no better reason than to come out with a winged warrior kit. 
• Old Zogwort- The greatest Weirdboy to ever live. Seeing as there is no current Weirdboy Character, it might as well be him. No excuse at this point for one of the most psychically attuned races in the lore to not have a special character who excels in the psychic phase of the game. And by excel, I mean does completely powerful yet absolutely zany Ork things.
• Moriar the Chosen/Cassor the Damned- I list both of these BAMFs, and while for personal reasons I prefer Moriar, I would honestly be happy if they just took a note from BA history and made a Death Company Dreadnought Character again. Heck, they could even make him a Redemptor Dread for all I care. It is just cool to have a member of the Death Company entombed and battling for eternity in a huge metal monster body.

And no list of characters returning would be complete without

DOOOOOOOMRIDER!

This Slaaneshi Daemonprince of Metal and Mayhem may have been finally caught by Ko'Sarro Khan, but that does not mean they can't concoct a scenario in which he is freed and escapes to ride once more through the Warp, all shiny and chrome. Ever a true fan favorite, there is little reason to not make an awesome warp dust fueled combat monster on a motorcycle fueled by insanity.

Adepticon is canceled, so I should post more

So Adepticon is a big thing every year for me. This year was going to be our biggest yet. So much so I haven't really been working on my personal hobby backlog OR posting here on the Blog, which were both two of my expressed goals for 2020.

So now that Adepticon is kaput for 2020, instead of being in the dumps about it, I'm going to take this money saved (the only silver lining) and the time saved to try and to be hobby positive. Of course I am disappointed. We even recorded an Episode of Allies of Incovenience the night of the 9th to be our Adepticon Pre-Show (AND WE TALKED ABOUT FABIUS BILE BEFORE HIS GAMA REVEAL ON IT).. and I still have to edit that episode. We will probably do an addendum to it now, but its a slight bummer to death with.

A preview of what our theme this year for the Team Tournament was to be. 

BUT I will be MOVING ONWARD AND UPWARD!

Expect to see more great hobby content here SOON!

The Post of Malal

We here at Sepulchre of Heroes have a unhealthy fascination with the one true Daemon King Malal. I mean why not, It's kind of a cool dude.

For the un-initiated, or for those you want a fun review, I highly encourage you to check out this previous POST. It covers a lot of the major aspects of Malal, and It's quasi-continued existence in 40k.

And for those of you on board I've got good news, we've kept our tin foil hats on and have more fluff connections for you.

The Hunger of Malice

Remember these guys?

source: Adam Skinner

Well turns out the original designed Tyranid models were slated for Daemons of Malal. They wanted something different then what the other four were, so they went goofy ass space ant.....

Really Goofy Space Ant

Malal in fluff right before his removal, was actually kicked out of the warp for general tomfoolery. To that end he was going to be the great unseen force behind the Hive Fleets. When Malal was removed they dropped that plot thread, and just made the Tryaind source something something mysterious.

But in reality they're operating just as Malal intended. Ravenous destruction which in the end will burn itself out after everything has been consumed. This also circles back to the nature of chaos existence itself, can't be a imagery-dream-monster if nothings left to dream.

Tyranids don't have an identify, or a sense of self, they are mindless biological program running a logic program of KEEP EATING. Even the special characters that exist are all actual copies of specific evolutionary dead ends, that are immediately deleted upon completion of a given task they are re-produced for.

GW has yet to ever bring up the true origins of the Tyranids. So unless they do, MALAL, it's Malal.

The Shadow of Malice

Currently, outside the possibility of Be'lakor, there are no stated Daemons of Malal running around. Or are there........

Fun fact, for a split second GW made Mandrakes Daemons.

(ed- this took me forever to find. It is in the 6th edition Grey Knights FAQ)

This was right about the time they started giving them more fluff. Mostly through the concept of a shadow realm, a place which they are able to phase in and out of reality from . This is very daemony kind of thing.

More recently, Kheradruakh was able to break the barrier to the shadow realm during the events of the Gathering Storm 2. When Ynnead awoke and a chaos rift happened inside Commorragh, and Daemons were flooding in from everywhere.

Kheradruakh found the last skull for his weird skull room. Upon its completion, the barrier to the shadow realm fell, enveloping Commorragh in shadow, and thousands of PCP enraged Mandrakes murdered all the Daemons

Curiously, while the events of Ynnead are still referenced in the new Dark Eldar codex, Kheradruakh and the Mandrakes accomplishment are oddly not.....

Fuff rewrite or Cover-UP?

Also why else wouldn't they be able to follow the Daemon God Ynnead. Coven units don't because they are flat out opposed to the concept of their own death. The Avatar of Khaine is you know, the AVATAR of Khaine. Mandrakes don't, because they already follow the one true Daemon God Malal.

The Voice of Malice?

There is one other weird thing that happened in the new Dark Eldar fluff that stood out for me.

A complicated Vect plot to "die" at the hands of Mandrakes and "destroy" every DE means of Vect being able to revive himself. He then somehow crashes his own wake killing all his rivals. Without any outside connection it just seems like some weird mafia-competition-wipe-out ruse, you know that old chestnut.

Or is it.....

I propose the idea that maybe it was wasn't a ruse. He was killed by the Mandrakes, those guys I do believe to be true agents of Malal. All the haemonclus revival methods were destroyed, because they wanted expose Vect to true death. And since Commoragh is still effected by the "Shadowrealm" this would expose Vect to Malal, the same way Yyraine was to Ynnead.

Vect has become the conduit for Malal!!!!!

I might not be right, but until GW decides to do something about the crippling lack of interesting DE HQ options/models, I'm not wrong. (ed- but you probably most definitely are)

Allies of Inconvenience- Episode 6: "Marine Biology" and Malal

I know we have lapsed a few months. I had to move from CA to VA and then get ready for and go to NOVA. Last few weeks have put a delay as well for a family emergency, but through all the delays, we still got it done.

Listen/Subscribe with iTunes 

This month we do quick discussion on our hobby progress and do some NOVA recap, followed by some great discussion on the fluff Space Marines and their enhanced physiology and then we go over Chris' theorgy regarding the Chaos god "Malal" and the recent fluff developments surrounding 8th edition 40k. Make sure to read the accompanying article for this one, available here!

00:00 Intro03:36 Hobby Progress
24:26 Space Marine Physiology
46:11 Malal Theory

Songs and SoundclipsBlue Mark- Atlan
Urtag Kaap mere- Bugotak
Clip 1 - The Last Laser Master Teaser (Aurlanauts Youtube)
Clip 2 - It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
Clip 3 - Balls of Fury

The Most Powerful Daemon God

"Who is most powerful Daemon God?" is one of those questions that forces sides largely on personal tastes. Pepsi or Coke. Apple or PC. Change, Blood, Party, or Pestilence. They're all equal options that seem to exist and aren't going away anytime soon.

But clearly this is the internet and I must have an opinion. My answer to "Who's the most Powerful of them all" is a part of a larger mystery I’ve become fixated on and the below sections contain possible proof I've found to convince you too of my madness.

1. What is a Daemon God?

The four Daemon Gods (+ whatever emo Metal Elf God is), are all immeasurable creatures of divine will. Based on faith, blood, entropy, and space herpes. They're manifested emotion and ideologies. If they are known and believed in, they will exist.

It’s a lot like clapping for Tinkerbell or dreaming of Freddy Krueger. Believing in them allows them to either dream murder you or whisk you away to a magical land of happiness..... and pirates trying to feed you to crocodiles......

Looking into those examples, actually gives us ideas on how to fight/defeat them. In Nightmare on Elm street the primary motif of how to deal with Freddy was to stop thinking about him and sequestering anyone aware of him on massive amounts of drugs. Because even if you murdered him, or sucked him into the real world to fight a disfigured summer camp hockey enthusiast, he will always come back.

Sometimes when you don't want him to

At one point Tinkerbell was dying because magic wasn't believed in enough. And if Pan hadn't gotten Wendy to clap Tinkerbell would have vanished, and no new lost boys would be taken from their homes under false pretenses to escape reality and eat paint food..... Are we sure Pan and Tinkerbell are protagonist?

Literally in Peter Pan 2...

Unfortunately, there is an ample supply of believers for-and-against daemon kind. The Gods aren’t actively trying whip out everything, just their enemies. And since the Daemon Gods like the idea of existing, they are all vying for more followers. In-fact the only true way of ending Chaos Daemons is wiping out all sentient creatures in the galaxy.

Life finds a way

Main take away from this is that abstract concepts in 40k have a consciousness and a will, believing in them as nouns gives them power. Hold on to that.

2. What's Up with them Grey Knights and their Secret Moon Base?

While reading the new fluff in the new Grey Knight codex, I found out Titan has begun to shake from within. Reading that one thing is what started my current fixation.

Fun fact, Titan was given to the Grey Knight Founders complete with a spooky basement at the bottom of a place called Mount Anarch. Their whole facility was built on top of a huge seal and the Grey Knights, primarily Purifiers, are guarding "it". I say "it" because fluff is heavily pointing to nobody, including them, knowing the full extent what's in there. Except for maybe the one guy who built it, the Emperor himself.

That’s not to say they haven’t been adding to it over the years. There are numerous vaults beyond the gates that the purifiers guard. There have been mentions of Necron tesseract vaults in use in previous editions. Even part of a paladins’ rite of passage involves going into the vaults and having a tea party in something called the “Dread Tomb” then battle wills with a sleepless Daemon named Abbiallach. Which is odd because the big bad that the Purifiers are keeping watch on is “Slumbering”. So not that guy.

Not knowing... may be Victory

I believe the real reason we don't know the full extent of what's in there, is that the Emperor knew the only way to contain what’s inside was by making sure as few people as possible knew. Additionally, stationing an army of well trained and well-armed Daemon Hunters as security is pretty telling of what that something may be. And I'm not talking about Freddy Kruger here.

No..... Focus people

Side note there is only supposed to be 44 purifiers, no one has said why. Put a pin in that.

Also, there is magic box there that has the same symbol as the one that's on the Emperor's Throne. This is the "Terminus Decree". Only the Grey Knight have been entrusted with its use. Not even the Custodes canclaim that. ONLY the Grey Knights.  http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Terminus_Decree

3. Cypher?

Cypher is a pretty cool dude. He's mission is unknown, but his actions aren't. He has been cutting a path through that galaxy in some very convoluted plan to get to the Emperor.

No one is sure if he’s trying to help or hurt the Imperium. Wants to kill or save the Emperor.

If I wanted there's a lot we can talk about this guy, but instead I want to focus on a few things of note.

First, he often goes by the pseudonym "The Voice of the Emperor". First one is brief.

Second, he carries a large sword he's never drawn. Some say its Luthers sword, they're wrong somebody found it. Some say it’s a new Heavens-blade, Ala Dark Angel Sword of Silence or Sword of Secrets. Some say that it’s the Lion Sword.

The last one makes the most sense, it is covered in Dark Angel Icons and the new Cypher model has it being freaking huge. But here's the thing, there is a point in the fluff where Guilliman breaks the original Lion Sword because Jonson was going to use it on Cruz because he refused to admit guilt. So, whatever Lion El'Jonson was using towards the end of the Horus Heresy was either something else or a re-forged Lion Sword. There is someone who knows what Cypher is packing though. In Rising Storm III, Guilliman is stated to know what it is and that he would never let it, or Cypher, near the Emperor. Past that nothing else has been revealed.

Conclusion: What "IT" is

It's a Daemon God.

Right about now you must be thinking "You're dumb. Titan would be a shitty prison for any of them because all of them are running around causing general mischief everywhere. What does that have to do with Cypher? And why did you spend a lot of time on Tinkerbell?".

Are they all?.... running around... or did you, like the Emperor intended, forget about someone......

You forgot about Dre!

You might not recognize that picture, mostly because it’s an artifact of something retconned out of existence. The above is a greater daemon of the fifth Daemon God Malal. Yes, that was a thing. http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Malice

In a galaxy of never-ending war, strife, fear, and carnage; what Daemon God would be the strongest? When Malal existed, he was the God of anarchy and terror. He was the embodiment of destruction, so much so that it was self-destructive. 

I'm using a lot of past tenses here because Malal was removed from the fluff entirely. Trademarks rights wise, there’s a reason he was retconned. But think about it fluff wise……

CATCHING ON???!

The Emperor could allow the other gods to continue to squabble, because they all want to exist and they know they can’t exist without other existences. But the Emperor knew that if left unchecked, Malal would destroy everything. A true end of all things. So, he had to do the one thing that has never been accomplished before nor since, caging a Daemon God. By deleting him from active history, he depowered Malal enough to cage him.

Additionally, he established the Grey Knights on top of Malal's prison, Mount Anarch “Y”, to serve as guards. Super humans trained to resist the whispers of chaos. Chapter 666. Mark of the Beast. Who better to guard the beast than those marked by it? Then there are 44 purifiers. Divided by 4, the division of the other chaos gods, is 11. Malal's favored number.  Malal's colors are Black and White. What happens when the two are mixed? You get Grey.The unsleeping Abblach may in fact be a greater daemon of Malal, and paladins are required to experience it in preparation for the worst.

Also, Abblach and the other captured daemons might not just be prisoners. What better cell is there for a God of anarchy and destruction, than one whose wall is made up of chained unending life?

If this theory is true, there is one problem with the Emperor’s plan and the reason for a prison. At the very end of the day there would always be at least one person who truly knew Malal existed. The Emperor.

This is where Cypher and his super pig sticker comes in. "The voice of the Emperor" is what he wants, he wants the Emperor to speak Malal's name to legitimize his existence. Cypher and few supporters may think he exists but none of them have ever met him. And the Emperor’s godly verbal validation, might be the tipping point for Malal’s resurfacing.

The sword Cypher carries is a re-forged Lion Sword. One crafted to force truth, a Sword of Truth in matching the naming convention of the other Dark Angel swords. A weapon Guilliman doesn’t want anywhere near the Emperor, because it might be powerful enough to be a threat to the Emperor.

And this also where the true reason for the Terminus Decree comes in. Horus weakened the Corpse Emperor to such an extent, his will is no longer a match for Malal. He knew being barely conscious (Freddy Kruger be-gone drugs) would be the only way to keep Malal in check. The Decree is his off switch, he just wanted to put it off for as long as possible. He's a quasi-functioning light house of sorts for space navigation. The throne failing is a planned attempt to ween mankind off of himself, hoping that Mankind will learn to rise without him.

The Emperor can't wake, because he may very well be the last person who truly knows Malice is lurking under the very surface of the Man.

The true Most Powerful Daemon God.

Also it is my firm belief that the Emperor may have also conspired with the only force more powerful than himself to help do this.